Ontario Grand Nationals - Results

Sorry it's taken so long, but the results are still worth reporting! Two carloads went down to London, Ontario for the 21st annual Ontario Grand Nationals (my original karate club, Bernardo Karate, was the host) and all four of us did very well.

Our newcomer, Shivani Sivabalan, competed in the kyu belt children's divisions, getting a fifth in weapons, and doing very well with Bassai Dai in forms, earning a second place!

In black belt, I got a fourth in 30+ forms (bleech), but a second in 30+ weapons and third in 30+ fighting (yes, I'm getting back into fighting, finally). Sensei Imran put in a good performance too, with a third in kata and two seconds (weapons and musical weapons). The best results of the day were from Sensei James, with two firsts, in musical weapons and sparring. He lost in the final elimination round of the sparring grands, but not before demolishing his opponents in the first two rounds; great job!

Results:

• James - 1st musical weapons, 1st fighting
• Imran - 3rd kata, 2nd weapons, 2nd musical weapons
  
• Dirk - 4th kata, 2nd weapons, 3rd fighting
• Shivani - 2nd kata, 5th weapons
  

Highlights from 2007 Laval Open, September 29

Here's the Matt Dixon Fan Club giving Matt, the "Giant Slayer" (see picture below), a cheer for winning his fighting division and saving the world from the ogre pictured below. Matt dominated in all of his fights. It was an exciting start to the fall tournament season. In his first tournament as a black belt, Callum had the misfortune of getting a broken nose in his fight. Alison scored a triple-double, finishing 2nd in all her events (losing a close final fight and missing 1st in both kata and weapons by just 1/100 point).

In my first tournament (besides the Worlds) as a black belt, I had the fortune to compete against Jean Francois Robiteille in the men's weapons Grands and Walter "Pizzazz" Baric in men's 30+ fighting final. I'll leave you in suspense until you read the results below ;^) Below, Walter is welcoming me to 30+ black belt fighting!
Here are some pictures taken from the video - thanks to Jim, Jordan, Darien, and Matt to videotaping.

Preliminary results:

• Matt - 3rd kata, 1st fighting
• Darien - 2nd kata, 1st weapons
• Jordan - 3rd kata, 2nd open weapons, 1st fighting
• Alison - 2nd kata, 2nd traditional weapons, 2nd fighting
• Saul - competed in kata and open weapons, 3rd traditional weapons
• Selina - 3rd kata, 2nd fighting
• Ian - competed in kata and fighting
• Callum - competed in kata and fighting
• Imran - 2nd kata, 1st open weapons, 1st traditional weapons
• Brian - competed in kata and open weapons
• Dirk - 3rd kata, 2nd open weapons, 2 traditional weapons
• Norm - 1st kata, 1st open weapons, 3rd traditional weapons, 2nd fighting (lost in final to Walter and lost in men's kata and weapons grands)